Alfa Romeo undergoing “complete rethink”

Fiat Group CEO, Sergio Marchionne, has spoken out about the “complete rethink” of the Alfa Romeo brand currently underway. Specifically he spoke of the need to get back to the “lightweight, rear-wheel drive, good looking, powerful cars Alfa was once known for.”

“We’ve already gone public in Detroit that we’re working hard on the next phase of Alfa, and it’s a severe rethink of everything we’ve done,” Marchionne said. “By the end of 2015 you will see cars that are representative of Alfas going forward.”

Alfa is planning to target the US and Chinese market’s by dumping is front-wheel drive hatchbacks and producing a range of truly global cars, including a rear-drive BMW 3 Series rival for 2015, a 5 Series rival in 2016, followed by small and medium-sized SUVs.

“I’ve just met with some suppliers and some content on these cars will be the first time on the market for any model, and not just the powertrains,” Marchionne said. “Do not underestimate the work that we are putting into this, we have learned from the past mistakes and the next phase will be right.

“We didn’t have a front-wheel architecture until Fiat showed up, we need to think about these things again and make our cars relevant,” he added. “Just look at the 4C, that level of creativity and ingenuity needs to go back into all Alfas.”